Latest news with #indyref2
The National
4 days ago
- Business
- The National
Kate Forbes blasts National Insurance hike amid payrolled staff slump
HMRC early estimates show for July 2025 show there were 2.45 million payrolled employees in Scotland. While this is 2000 more than the number of payrolled employees in the previous month, it is down 13,000 compared to July 2024. In April to June 2025, Scotland's employment rate estimate was 75.1%. The unemployment rate estimate was 3.8% and the economic inactivity rate estimate was 21.9% in the same period. READ MORE: John Swinney interview: The FM on indyref2, Israel, energy and more The unemployment rate was still almost half of what it was in London for the period (6%), according to the Office for National Statistics, and lower than the UK's rate as a whole (4.7%). The only area of the UK with lower unemployment than Scotland in the period was Northern Ireland. Deputy First Minister Forbes has said while figures show Scotland's labour market to be "resilient", there must be a reversal in the hike to employers' NICs. She said: "These figures show that Scotland's labour market remains resilient with the number of payrolled employees in Scotland and their median monthly pay remaining high. 'The Scottish Government is focussed on driving the economic growth, conditions and investment that's crucial to supporting jobs and prosperity. 'We are taking real action to deliver, investing up to £500 million over five years in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities critical to growth in the offshore wind sector. We are also investing £90 million in our employability services in 2025-26 to support people towards and into employment. 'However, we need decisive action from the UK Government to boost growth and a reversal of the decision to raise employers' National Insurance contributions.' READ MORE: Labour eye 'utterly reckless' bonfire of nuclear energy regulations In June. the SNP said the hike was "destroying jobs, squeezing wages and choking off economic growth". Rachel Reeves announced in her UK Budget last October that employers' NICs would rise from 13.8% to 15% on salaries above £5000. The Government said the changes would eventually raise £25 billion a year. The number of payrolled employees has decreased for all regions and countries of the UK, except for Northern Ireland where it has increased by 0.7%, when comparing July 2025 with the same period the previous year. The figures are likely to be revised when more data is received next month, ONS said.
The National
4 days ago
- The National
Nicholas Rossi appears in court for US rape trial
The man known in the US as Nicholas Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, is accused of sexually assaulting two women in Utah in 2008. Prosecutors are trying the cases separately, with the first set in Salt Lake County. Rossi, 38, was extradited from Scotland to the US in January 2024 after a lengthy case in the Scottish courts. READ MORE: John Swinney interview: The FM on indyref2, Israel, energy and more He came to the attention of authorities when he was identified at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow in December 2021 while being treated for Covid-19 under the name Arthur Knight. He was arrested after being identified by his distinctive tattoos as a person the US authorities wanted to extradite, but claimed this was a case of mistaken identity. Months of court proceedings in Edinburgh followed but in November 2022, Sheriff Norman McFadyen determined the man claiming to be Knight was indeed Rossi. An extradition hearing took place in June 2023, with Sheriff McFadyen ruling there was no barrier to Rossi's extradition. In his Scottish hearings, Rossi would appear in a wheelchair and sometimes with an oxygen mask. An extradition warrant was signed in September 2023 and Rossi was finally sent to the US in January 2024. Prosecutors in the US say they have identified at least a dozen aliases Rossi used over the years to evade capture. Rossi appeared in court on Monday in a wheelchair, wearing a suit and tie and using an oxygen tank. (Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire) The alleged victim identified him from the witness box, saying he is 'a little bit heavier, a little bit older' but mostly looks the same. District Judge Barry Lawrence helped clarify for the jury some of the twists and turns of the case, explaining that different people may refer to Rossi by different names. The defence and prosecution agreed it is factual that Rossi was in Utah in 2008 and had a relationship with the alleged victim that year. Prosecutors painted a picture of an intelligent man who used his charm to take advantage of a vulnerable young woman. He raped her when she pushed back against his attempts to control her, deputy Salt Lake County district attorney Brandon Simmons alleged. The woman, who the judge asked not be identified publicly, described a whirlwind relationship with Rossi that began in November 2008 while she was recovering from a traumatic brain injury. The two began dating after she responded to a personal ad Rossi posted on Craigslist and were engaged within about two weeks. The woman described being asked to pay for their dates, cover Rossi's rent so he would not be evicted from his apartment and take on debt to buy their engagement rings. Then, the relationship spiralled quickly, with Rossi 'becoming controlling and saying mean things to me', she alleged. The couple got into a fight in which Rossi pounded on her car and used his body to block her from pulling out of the parking garage, she alleged. She finally let him inside and drove him home but said she had no plans of continuing a relationship. She agreed to go into his house to talk, but he instead pushed her on to his bed, held her down and 'forced me to have sex with him', she alleged. The woman described lying still, paralysed with fear. 'I was a little bit more of a timid person back then, and so it was harder for me to stand up for myself,' she said. Dismissive comments from her parents convinced her not to go to the police at the time, she said. She did, however, try to bring Rossi to small claims court over the engagement rings but dropped the case. Rossi's lawyers sought to convince the jury that the alleged victim built up years of resentment after Rossi made her foot the bill for everything in their month-long relationship, and accused him of rape to get back at him a decade later when she saw him in the news. Rossi will also stand trial in September over another rape charge in Utah County. Rossi grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island and had returned to the state before allegedly faking his death. An obituary published online claimed he died on February 29 2020 of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma. State police, along with Rossi's former lawyer and a former foster family, cast doubt on whether he was dead. A year later, hospital staff in Scotland recognised his tattoos from an Interpol notice and alerted authorities. He was extradited to Utah in January 2024. 'This case is like an old puzzle from the thrift store,' said MacKenzie Potter, one of Rossi's lawyers. 'It's 13 years old, not all the pieces are there, some pieces are from a different puzzle. And when you start going through everything, you're not going to get a complete picture.' Prosecutors pushed back, saying that if any 'puzzle pieces' are missing, it is because Rossi's lawyers fought to have some evidence dismissed.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Pro-UK, no ifs no buts': Reform rule out Scottish independence referendum
REFORM UK have ruled out supporting a Scottish independence referendum after social media rumours suggested Nigel Farage would consider granting one. Writer Neil Drysdale sparked the debate when he wrote on Twitter/X, saying an unnamed Reform supporter told him "Farage will promise a second independence referendum before the next election". "If he does, everything is up for grabs," he added. READ MORE: The speculation prompted a blog post from Wings Over Scotland, who argued that disillusioned, Brexit-backing independence voters could be tempted by Farage's offering – and said backing indyref2 would make "credible political sense" for the political leader. Wings added: "Even if [Reform] turned out to be lying they couldn't realistically make a bigger pig's arse of governing at Holyrood than than SNP have for the last 10 years." Meanwhile Scottish Tory MSP Murdo Fraser (below) quickly grasped onto the rumours, hoping they could push Unionists away from Reform. Both Labour and the Tories have been losing support to Farage's outfit, according to recent polling. "Well there you go, vote [Reform]; get another 4 years of constitutional division and upheaval," Fraser added. "They are not to be trusted on the Union." But debate was cut short when Reform themselves stepped in to declare their support for the Union, while attacking both the Bath-based blogger and Fraser's party. "The [Scottish Tories] are now so desperate that they're tweeting unnamed sources and Wings over Scotland," they said. "Dear oh dear ... Reform UK Scotland is a Pro-UK party no ifs or buts," followed by a Saltire and Union flag. READ MORE: It is not the first time Reform's Unionist credentials have been questioned. At last year's General Election, a number of candidates standing for the party confirmed they voted Yes in the 2014 referendum. Those candidates included Kris Callander in Gordon and Buchan, Vicky McCann in Dundee Central and David Kirkwood, the party's deputy chairman. Urging pro-Union voters away from the party, Tory chairman Craig Hoy warned: "Even a few votes for Reform could elect an SNP MP by the back door. 'We know several Reform candidates are pro-independence, so it may well be that helping the SNP is what they really want."
